Intentional Lethal Violent Crimes (CVLI): An analysis before and during the COVID-19 Pandemic in a municipality in the Brazilian Northeast.
Intentional Lethal Violent Crimes; Victims of Crime; Murder; Exposure to Violence; Security
Violent deaths represent a complex and polysemic problem, given the context involved in their occurrence. It is at the same time a social, economic, political, public security and health problem. Additionally, the Covid-19 pandemic has had implications for all sectors of society, so investigating its impacts on the dynamics of violent crimes is a fundamental premise for the construction of new public policies. Based on the above, this work aims to compare the sociodemographic and circumstantial characteristics and the spatio-temporal dynamics involved in Intentional Lethal Violent Crimes (CVLI) registered in the municipality of Juazeiro/Bahia before (2018-2019) and during (2020-2021 ) the Covid-19 pandemic. This is an observational study involving all Intentional Lethal Violent Crimes (CVLI) that occurred in the municipality of Juazeiro/Bahia before (January 2018 to February 2020) and during the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to December 2021). The secondary data for this study were obtained through Police Occurrence Reports (ROP), provided by the Statistical Monitoring and Control Section (SACE), belonging to the Center for Operational Planning and Strategic Decisions (CPODE) of the structure of the Police Command of the Region of Northern Region (CPR-N), tactical management body of the Military Police of Bahia (PMBA). Regarding the types of CVLI, intentional homicide was the predominant type in the four-year period, highlighting the increase in cases of femicide during the Pandemic. The profile of victims remained the same with men being the predominant gender throughout the observed period. Blacks and browns showed the same predominance and constancy. Half of the crime victims had a criminal record. Firearms account for 70% of deaths, with the increase in the use of bladed weapons during the Pandemic. Violent relationships linked to the illicit drug trade represent a third of the motivations for crimes. Conflicts are more pronounced during the pandemic period. Regarding temporal aspects, crimes increased during the Pandemic, there was no month with predominance in relation to others. The vast majority of crimes occurred on weekends and at night during the four-year period without major differences between phases. The places where deaths occurred were practically the same, the outskirts of the city which registered a sharp increase in the Pandemic in the same territories.